We Bet You Didn’t Know These Things About The NFL

September 1, 2015

— By
Amanda D

Alright, we get it, you can cite NFL stats like a walking Wikipedia entry. You diligently stock up on Fantasy Football magazines and books each year, so you can cram even more pro football knowledge in your brain (and make smart draft picks, of course). Now, let’s see if you can add some more info to the NFL database in your head with the following little-known facts:

Football isn’t just for Sundays

NFL games have taken place at least once on every day of the week. Games have been moved due to weather, holidays and even politics. The 2012 NFL season opener was moved to Wednesday, so it wouldn’t be interrupted by President Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.

You say football, I say baseball

MLB team the Kansas City Royals drafted former Broncos’ quarterback John Elway and former Dolphins’ QB Dan Marino in 1979.

Wilsoooooon

Ball manufacturer Wilson makes about 4,000 footballs a day for the NFL. The company goes through roughly 400 cowhides on a daily basis to reach that quota.

Route 66

The Los Angeles Buccaneers didn’t actually play any games in the City of Angels. Instead, the traveling NFL team, which was only around during the 1926 season, operated out of the Windy City.

Totally BS

The New England Patriots were almost saddled with the questionably initialed B.S. Patriots (for Bay Street Patriots) moniker in 1971, but that name lasted for about a month.

Alright, let’s huddle

The earliest report of the huddle dates all the way back to the 1890s. A deaf football player at Gallaudet University named Paul Hubbard used it so the other team wouldn’t be able to see the sign language he used to communicate to his teammates.

And after all that he didn’t score?!

St. Louis Cardinals’ QB Jim Hart threw a record-breaking 98-yard completion from one 1-yard line to the other to Bobby Moore (aka Ahmad Rashad) in 1972. That’s the record for the longest non-scoring pass.

Apollo Creed

Carl Weathers, better known as Rocky Balboa’s nemesis Apollo Creed, was an Oakland Raiders linebacker in 1970 and 1971. He played for the Canadian Football League the BC Lions after that, then left football playing behind for good to focus on his acting career.

Age is just a number

Brett Favre and Jerry Rice are the only NFL players over 40 to catch at least one pass. Favre caught one and only one, while Rice caught 161.

Football has changed a lot

Only around 500 people watched the first NFL game on TV back in 1939, compared to an audience of roughly 114.4 million viewers who tuned in to watch the 2015 Super Bowl.